Site of the Month Archive

Site of the Month Archive - 2005

2007

2006

2005

October 2005 : Race Tech Magazine

http://www.racetechmag.com/

Race Tech is a well-established magazine for professional motorsport engineers. It has recently been joined by a new publication, Race Engine Technology, which covers powertrain developments.

One objective of the new magazine is to publicise the advances being made in motorsport engines, which are highly efficient, in the hope that this will lead to knowledge transfer into the auto industry. Race Tech itself has carried a number of articles on EEMS in the past which led to some well-informed debates in the letters pages.

The magazine has a separate section, Motorsport Professional, dedicated to job opportunities and news of new appointments in motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Race Tech and Race Engine Technology are edited by Ian Bamsey, a well-connected and expert technical writer.

The site does not include full versions of the printed magazine - the information is too valuable for that - but it does have extracts, supplier listings, subscription information and back issues. There is a motorsport news service too, supplied by the well-known motorsport news site Crash.Net - the same company also designs and hosts the Race Tech site.

September 2005 : IoGen - the bio-ethanol specialists

http://www.iogen.ca/

Bio-ethanol is a renewable fuel, used by road cars such as the Ford Focus FFV and by the EEMS-sponsored Astra running in the British Touring Car Championship. Currently, most ethanol is brewed from grain (maize, wheat or barley) sugar-cane or sugar-beet and then distilled to purify it. This Canadian company has found a reliable way to make bio-ethanol fuel from low-grade plant material such as straw. According to IoGen's website, "Cellulose ethanol, and conventional (grain derived) ethanol are the same final product, but the production technologies are very different." The two types of ethanol differ in the following ways:

a) the manufacturing process does not consume fossil fuels, but rather uses plant byproducts to create the energy to run the process (this leads to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions profile - see picture)

b) the technology is new and emerging and has only recently become practical and

c) the raw material does not compete as a food source for humans and is available now, based upon existing farm practices.

The last point is key. Farming produces vast amounts of plant residue that has little use today. If bio-ethanol production does not depend on diverting food crops, it can provide additional income for farmers and the supply of suitable material is greatly expanded. The site provides an excellent overview of the prospects for this major new fuel source.

August 2005 : Telegraph Motoring

http://motoring.telegraph.co.uk/

Published every Saturday, the Telegraph Motoring section has some of the best columnists in the buisiness. James May, Andrew English and particularly Sir John Whitmore offer thought-provoking views as well as the usual diet of first drives, used car advice and features. During the year the Telegraph has covered the EEMS-sponsored BTCC Astra (below) and the Shell Eco-Marathon in July. They also have excellent two-wheeled coverage and benefit from the main paper's heavyweight analysis and contacts.

July 2005 : Green Car Journal

http://www.greencar.com/

Green Car Journal's mission (according to its website) is "to inform and entertain while also encouraging understanding of the exciting and environmentally positive vehicles in new car showrooms today". A refreshing approach for a US car magazine, reflecting editor and publisher Ron Cogan's strongly-held belief that automobiles and the environment are not mutually exclusive. Cogan is a well-known motoring journalist, with 29 years of experience as both editor and feature writer, and this shows in the style of the writing which is aimed squarely at car enthusiasts.

The magazine is published quarterly and you can subscribe and buy back-issues from the site, which also has image downloads and an excellent selection of links sorted by theme.

The online edition includes a good selection of articles addressing issues familiar to UK readers - how to increase the sales of environmentally-friendly cars, why manufacturers are so slow to bring new technologies to market, what are the 'bridge' technologies that will take us from petrol and diesel to a hydrogen economy - if indeed that is our ultimate destination? Contributors include such well-known figures as Bill Ford, Lee Iacocca and Carroll Shelby as well as technical experts and even an interview with science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.